The inside line on motor sport and broadcasting.

Category: BT Sport

Formula E remains in the far east for the second leg of its Asian tour, as the championship heads to China for the Sanya E-Prix.

After its one-off appearance on BBC Two last time out in Hong Kong, the series returns to BBC’s Red Button on Saturday, with World Feed only coverage returning. As always, Vernon Kay and Nicki Shields preside over proceedings, with Bob Varsha, Jack Nicholls, and Dario Franchitti in the commentary box.

On the radio side, Tom Gaymor, Claire Cottingham and Marc Priestley will commentate on the action for Formula E Radio as well as BBC 5 Live Sports Extra.

Over in the west, the Circuit of the Americas plays host the IndyCar Series. Barring any technical difficulties, the race itself will run without commercials for UK viewers on Sky Sports F1, a stark contrast to the first race in St Petersburg when the UK programme followed the same ad-break pattern as their US counterparts.

A packed weekend of motor sport to kick start the traditional season saw Formula E lead the way on its BBC Two debut, overnight viewing figures show.

Formula E makes BBC Two debut
As part of their commitment to air one race on linear television, BBC aired the Hong Kong E-Prix live on BBC Two this past weekend. The race brought in a solid audience, according to audience numbers supplied by Overnights.tv.

An average of 229k (4.6%) tuned into the broadcast from 07:30 to 09:30. Sunday’s audience is an improvement on the last two seasons for Hong Kong, when the race aired on tape-delay on Channel 5.

In a positive sign, the BBC’s race coverage saw consistent growth throughout the broadcast, increasing its audience in most of the five-minute segments between 07:35 and 09:05. The race peaked with 355k (6.5%) at 09:00 as the race concluded.

It is Formula E’s highest UK audience for an Asian-based race since their first ever E-Prix in 2014. Back then, live coverage of the Beijing E-Prix on ITV4 averaged 266k (4.7%) and peaked with 477k (6.8%).

BT Sport and Eurosport make negligible difference to the overall picture, averaging 5k (0.10%) and 8k (0.16%) respectively, if anything showing the importance of free-to-air for Formula E.

For me, Formula E’s audience is solid, whether it is enough to convince the BBC to move the series off the Red Button for the latter half of the season, I do not know. If the peak was nearer to 500,000 viewers, I think the decision may be easier, that is if there is even a discussion here.

Last weekend’s race was Formula E’s first on a mainstream television channel since June last year, so expectations from a viewing figures perspective are lower as a result. With a bit of promotion, a European race could peak at around 800,000 viewers on BBC One, potentially. Time will tell if the BBC genuinely considers that a viable option this season.

MotoGP’s return peaks with 249,000 viewers on BT
A new season of MotoGP kicked off on BT Sport 2 with the Qatar GP. The leading bike series was unaffected by tough football opposition on Sky.

The race brought in an audience similar to previous years. The 90-minute MotoGP slot averaged 190k (1.3%) from 16:30 to 18:00, a slight decrease on last year’s figure of 211k (1.5%), but an increase on the 2014 and 2017 averages.

A peak of 249k (1.6%) watched as Marc Marquez and Andrea Dovizioso went wheel-to-wheel over the finish line for the second year running. The peak audience is in-line with the past two years, which peaked with 247k (1.3%) and 255k (1.9%) respectively.

Free-to-air highlights of the championship moved from Channel 5 to Quest, with the audience dropping significantly year-on-year. Quest aired two highlights shows at 18:00 and 23:00 respectively. Their premiere airing averaged 140k (0.9%), with the repeat bringing in 50k (0.8%).

The combined Quest audience of 190k is down 58 percent on Channel 5’s highlights audience for Qatar last season of 456k (2.5%). It is lower than all bar three MotoGP races on either ITV4 or Channel 5 since the highlights arrangement started in 2014.

Cumulatively, the drop for the highlights airing meant that MotoGP peaked with 513,000 viewers in the UK over the weekend, when accounting for BT’s live airing and Quest’s two repeats, a disappointing number for the championship.

As with all the figures in this piece, on demand platforms such as BT Sport’s online services and MotoGP’s VideoPass over-the-top offering are not included, which may make a small difference to the total MotoGP numbers.

IndyCar struggles on Sky return as St Pete opener plagued by technical issues
It was not a good Sunday for IndyCar, on all fronts. The series returned for a new season in St Petersburg, and with it came a change of channel for UK viewers, as the championship moved from BT Sport to Sky Sports F1.

Viewing figures struggled, with the race averaging 19k (0.11%) from 16:30 to 20:30, a decrease on last year’s BT audience of 25k (0.16%) over a shorter 200-minute time slot. Sky’s coverage peaked with 56k (0.32%) at 18:40 on Sunday, compared with 56k (0.38%) one year ago on BT.

The season opener faced MotoGP on BT and Premier League football on Sky, which may have impacted figures. Last month, F1 testing brought in a higher audience than IndyCar managed, although testing aired across the F1 channel and Main Event.

Considering the buzz when the IndyCar deal was first announced, Sky’s audience is disappointing. IndyCar, from a UK perspective, failed to move the needle outside of the Twitter bubble. However, IndyCar could benefit from cross-promotion during Sky’s main F1 coverage this year, so the picture could change as the season progresses.

The problems with Sky’s IndyCar broadcast may not have helped audience figures, although I doubt it caused a significant dent given the low base to start with.

IndyCar produces two feeds: a domestic feed for NBC, and an international feed. The feeds contain different graphics set, whilst the former is also not a continuous feed of the racing action. For St Pete, Sky aired the domestic feed ‘as-is’, breaking away to their own commercials when NBC in America went to adverts or went ‘side-by-side’.

What this meant was a downgrade on coverage offered by BT Sport in previous years. It was expected that Sky would take some commercials (@IndyCarUK understands four ad-breaks), but also utilise the feed to stay on the action for most of the race outside of yellow flag periods.

Whether Sky were unaware that the domestic feed was going to break away from the action or not is unclear. Either way, the communication between Sky Sports, NBC Sports and IndyCar needs to be clearer ready for Austin in two weeks’ time.

In a separate issue, IndyCar’s broadcast lost pictures completely for around 15 minutes on Sunday, affecting both the domestic NBC feed and the international feed. IndyStar Sports writer Jim Ayello reports that there was “a power supply failure to one of IMS Productions’ up-links due to two amplifiers overheating,” which caused the feed to go down.

Formula 1 roars back into life, with the championship starting down under in Melbourne for the Australian Grand Prix!

For UK fans, the action airs exclusively live on Sky, with highlights on Channel 4. If you are not yet accustomed to hearing that sentence yet, you will soon, as that sentence applies for 20 of the 21 races this season, and (partially) applies until the end of 2024.

Change at Sky…A lot has happened since both broadcasters went off the air at the end of 2018. Karun Chandhok and Jenson Button have joined Sky for the upcoming season, adding depth to their line-up.

The rest of Sky’s line-up remains the same as last year, 2019 marking their eighth season covering the sport. Simon Lazenby will continue to front their coverage, with David Croft and Martin Brundle on commentary.

However, Sky have reduced Ted Kravitz’s contribution for 2019, after u-turning on an earlier decision to axe him from their coverage. Kravitz is with Sky for 14 races this season, whilst his Notebook output is no more based on current schedules. Kravitz is presenting a midweek show called Midweek Debrief, but this is an F1 production as opposed to an in-house Sky production.

On the programming front, Sky have extended their Thursday preview show, added a 30-minute wrap-up show on Friday, and kept The F1 Show on Saturday’s after qualifying. On race day, Sky have also extended Paddock Live to an hour, but it also starts half an hour earlier, meaning that Sky will head off-air earlier on Sunday’s than previously.

Sky are simulcasting their programming throughout the weekend across Sky One and Sky Sports Main Event. On Sunday, they are replaying the race five times in full across the F1 channel, Sky One and Main Event before Channel 4’s highlights programme has even started!

…and at Channel 4…With Chandhok moving over to Sky, Channel 4 have added Billy Monger and Stefano Domenicali to their line-up. Both of them join Steve Jones, David Coulthard and Mark Webber in Melbourne, with Ben Edwards continuing to commentate alongside Coulthard. The broadcaster has retained Lee McKenzie, despite McKenzie previously intending to move onto pastures new this season.

As expected, Channel 4’s highlights programme is shorter than last year, with decreases of 20 minutes (18%) and 45 minutes (27%) for qualifying and the race respectively. The decreases are bigger than expected, as Australia received a generous edit from Channel 4 historically compared to races later in the season.

Decreases aside, fans will notice change from the very first second of Channel 4’s programme. Fleetwood Mac’s The Chain is no more. In its place I understand is a new, modern theme to kick-start Channel 4’s 2019 coverage.

…and at the Beeb
For those of you without Sky, the BBC’s 5 Live coverage of Formula 1 remains. The broadcaster has not officially confirmed their radio line-up, although expect no changes on the personnel side. IMG are producing their coverage this season after winning the contract from USP Content last October.

Elsewhere in the motor sport spectrum, the World Endurance Championship returns to action in Sebring, whilst Supercars plays its part on the F1 support bill, which UK viewers will have access to for the first time.

Update on March 12th – Added Ted Kravitz’s new show with F1 TV (also airing on Sky), plus updated the Supercars schedule.

Update on March 15th – Added Stefano Domenicali to Channel 4’s line-up. Also, Supercars has disappeared from BT Sport’s schedules. Historically, there were restrictions around what broadcasters could air from Supercars in Melbourne as it falls under the F1 support package, restrictions which still apply. The only place for UK fans to see the action is via SuperView,.

After a dominant display in 2018, Marc Marquez looks to keep hold of the MotoGP crown, as the championship springs back to life in Qatar.

This year though, Marquez has a new partner at Repsol Honda in Jorge Lorenzo, a pairing that will be fascinating to watch as the season progresses. For UK fans, live coverage of the series remains on BT Sport.

On the free-to-air front, highlights of the championship move from Channel 5 to Quest, with the 60-minute show airing in an earlier time slot on Monday evenings.

Staying on tarmac, Formula E makes the jump to BBC Two for the Hong Kong E-Prix as part of their commitment to air one race on terrestrial television. In a throwback to ITV’s coverage of the series, Jennie Gow presents from the BBC’s Salford studios.

Jamie Chadwick and Marc Priestley are alongside Gow in the BBC studio, instead of Billy Monger as originally billed. Prior to the live airing, delayed coverage of qualifying airs via the Red Button for the first time.

To be honest, there is an argument that the Formula E World Feed on its own would have been a better approach, especially as the World Feed output has matured since ITV covered the series in its inaugural years. Saying that, adding a bit of colour to the broadcast is par for the course for BBC’s sporting output on linear television, so it is not too surprising.

Meanwhile, the IndyCar Series moves from BT Sport to Sky Sports F1 in a multi-year deal, with Sky covering qualifying and the race live. The expectation is that Sky are taking IndyCar’s World Feed without any bespoke wrap-around content. UK viewers will hear the likes of Leigh Diffey, Townsend Bell and Paul Tracy calling the action.

There is a lot of action across the weekend, with IndyCar overlapping with both MotoGP and the climax of Rally Mexico.

BT Sport will not broadcast coverage of the IndyCar Series this season after losing the rights to the championship.

The series aired on Sky Sports as part of a longstanding relationship until the end of the 2012 season, with regular live studio coverage covering each race. As Sky ramped up their F1 involvement, IndyCar arguably suffered, and the series moved over to ESPN at the start of 2013.

IndyCar continued on ESPN, but under the BT Sport umbrella from August 2013 onwards. Whilst BT Sport’s agreement with ESPN’s international arm lasts until 2022, the decision by IndyCar to break away from ESPN and bring their international rights in-house placed BT Sport’s UK deal under threat.

This site can confirm that BT Sport have lost the rights to IndyCar with immediate effect. Writing on Twitter, BT Sport’s IndyCar commentator Tom Gaymor said “Unfortunately it looks like IndyCar will not be on BT Sport this year, no more information at the moment! I know a lot of you have been asking, so if it changes, I’ll let you know. I’m as disappointed as you are.”

Typically, IndyCar races average around 25,000 viewers, a figure that has remained relatively static in recent years. Most notably, IndyCar enjoyed its moment in the sun in 2017, when the appearance of Fernando Alonso at the Indianapolis 500 led to BT Sport’s coverage peaking with over 200,000 viewers, by far IndyCar’s highest UK audience in a generation.

For the IndyCar fans that have stuck with BT Sport’s coverage, the parting of ways between the two sides is a shame. Whilst BT Sport did not revolutionise IndyCar coverage as such (the budget remained small), what the motor sport team, led by Nick Kennerley off camera, did provide was a home for the series.

BT’s coverage was commercial free for the most parts with UK commentators Gaymor, Keith Collantine and Oliver Webb providing insight when their US colleagues were on commercial breaks. It is difficult to imagine another network doing the same thing as BT have done for the past few years.

However, if IndyCar’s new home does provide the championship with a wider platform, then overall this is a good move.

IndyCar have yet to announce a new broadcast partner for the UK. One possibility is that IndyCar finds itself back on Sky Sports. Comcast now owns Sky, and has done so since the middle of 2018. In the US, IndyCar is airing on NBC in a new deal starting this season. And Comcast also owns NBC…

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